Sunday, August 10, 2008

Olympian Description

In obliterating his already absurd world record by 1.41 seconds – lowering the mark to 4:03.84 – Phelps was perfect. He was Tiger Woods at Augusta, Michael Jordan in Madison Square Garden. For an eyelash over four minutes, he owned Beijing’s Water Cube. And if it’s a sign of anything, he’ll own it all week long and leave Beijing with Fort Knox hanging from his neck.

An Olympic gold medal is the only significant title the five-time world champions have never won in soccer. The Brazilians won the silver medal twice, in 1984 in Los Angeles and in 1988 in Seoul, and the bronze in 1996 in Atlanta.

ps: News is, Bolt became the first person since Carl Lewis in 1984 to win both the 100 and 200 in the same Olympics, and the first ever to do it while breaking both world records. “You have people who are exceptions,” said Stephen Francis,... “You have Einstein. You have Isaac Newton. You have Beethoven. You have Usain Bolt. It’s not explainable how and what they do.”

pps: On Phelps. Russian swimmer Alexander Sukhorukov went on to describe Phelps as "just a normal person, from a different planet, a planet from a different galaxy."